Yesterday, April 19, 2012, I commented in Peres Mauls Holocaust about some of the outrageous words uttered by Israel’s president during Holocaust Day’s main ceremony at Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem. Yet, his speech contained more horrors than those analyzed yesterday. Shimon Peres has a long history of indelicate comments and questionable assessments. On July 26, 2010, Peres said during an interview with historian Benny Morris for the Jewish-British Tablet magazine: “England is anti-Semitic.” This happened when the UK is one of the very few countries in the world supporting Israel’s racist policies and systematic violence. On the same occasion, Peres added: “There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary.” I commented on other similarly invaluable pearls in Peres Calls for Attack on Iran and other articles. Racist remarks towards Mizrahi Jews cost him a dear price in the 1980s. In other words, shooting his own foot is his favorite sport. Good! Let’s play.

Degania Aleph First Kindergarten

Degania Aleph

Yesterday, Shimon Peres said: “During Passover, I traveled all over Israel. Blue skies. Blooming fields. Beautiful children. Hard-working people. I thought about the communities from whence they came, and that are no longer with us. For a moment I replaced Tel Aviv with Vilna, Haifa with Bialystock, Degania, Nahalal, Be'er Sheva with Plonsk, Riga, and Odessa.” My horror at these words was so deep that I put them apart for a separate article. On the surface, Peres was repeating the Israeli ethos: the Holocaust—as described by the State of Israel and Jewish organizations—is the State of Israel’s raison d’être. Yet, a very different interpretation could be offered to the same words. I grew up in a kibbutz located in the regional council adjacent to the one of Degania, the first kibbutz which was mentioned by Peres. My first connotation wasn’t the one intended by Mr. Peres.

D’gania as Auschwitz

Everything was sanitized in Peres speech. To such an extent—as it will be shown later—that if it had been uttered in English, he would have said “Degania,” instead of the proper Dgania, which means “God’s Cereal.” Yet, for those who grew up in the scorching valley placed under the sea level, the “cereal” part of the name (“dagan”) meant endless days of work in the fields while the grownups took long naps or traveled around with the communal cars. At the end of the day, we returned to the communal sleeping quarters. This was the only type of settlement in human history that tried to destroy the institution of family for being “reactionary.” The Zionists hoped in such a way to shape us into “new men,” free from old ideologies. The entire settlement was closed behind barbed wire, so that we were practically children slaves in a prison. The kibbutz was my Auschwitz.

“How do you dare!” are Zionists exclaiming in horror by now. Yet, that’s the truth. Moreover, Auschwitz inmates were in better situation than us. They knew they would soon die and be released from suffering, while we knew we were destined to a lifetime of misery. Sadly, due to certain unfortunate characteristics of the time-space continuum, we couldn’t swap places. Yet, I thank God for the experience that, exposing me to evil, led me to choose good.

Haj Sami Sadiq | Mayor of Al Aqaba, Jordan Valley

Mr. Peres, what about Al-Aqaba?

Another striking point in Peres choice of places, is that he didn’t mention any Palestinian, Druze, Circassian, Bedouin, or any non-Jewish settlement. I was pondering how to properly assess the point, when one of my subscribers sent me an article published yesterday by Mondo Weiss (http://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/a-palestinian-mayor-issues-desperate-appeal-to-the-world-to-restore-his-villages-lifeline.html). Named A Palestinian mayor issues desperate appeal to the world to restore his village’s lifeline, the article simply reproduces verbatim a letter issued by Haj Sami Sadiq, Mayor of Al Aqaba, which as Degania, is in the Jordan Valley. Unlike Degania, Al Aqaba is populated by Palestinians.

The letter is harsh. It described how for decades Israeli soldiers used the village as a live ammunition training area. This cost the lives of eight of the village people and injured 38, including the mayor, who is shown in the picture above. In 2003, after petitioning the Supreme Court, the military camp was evacuated from the village. In illegitimate retribution, the IDF Civil Administration issued demolition orders on the mosque, the kindergarten and the local health clinic structures among others, claiming that these structures had been built without permission. On April 18, 2012, the IDF attacked again and prompted the abovementioned desperate letter from the mayor.

Let me quote Mayor Haj Sam: “Today April 18th 2012 at 11:00 AM IDF soldiers accompanied by private contractors appeared without prior notification to demolish 2 access roads to the town, named ‘Road of Peace’ and ‘Road of Displacement.’ The roads were built with our own hands in order to exercise our right to freedom of movement. These roads are part of our lifeline, as our sole source of income relies on our ability to move our agricultural goods to the market. This is the 3rd time that the ‘Road of Peace’ has been demolished. On all of the previous occasions we did not take any action. This time the demolition came with a threat. An abusive officer in a jeep numbered 65539 advised our Mayor that he will return for larger scale demolitions in retribution for the observation of the road demolitions by internationals. These threats were made to a man who is in a wheel chair urging away the small group of less than 10 curious individuals.”

This is Israel’s official treatment of someone who also says: “Despite those acts of aggression, we have never resorted to violence, no terrorism has come from our people, no stone was ever thrown, and we continue to call for coexistence and peace.”

Auschwitz as Degania?

Mr. Peres, considering all the times you made embarrassing statements I understand you will have difficulties understanding this article. Yet, I beg you to make an effort; it will make you a better man. Please read again the section about Al-Aqaba. Instead of Al-Aqaba, pronounce Plonsk (Degania’s European parallel in your recent speech). Instead of the Palestinian name Sami Sadiq, utter the Jewish Samuel Tzadik, and instead of the IDF, please say Nazi Germany SS. Do you get the picture? In this new picture, who are you?